Only Time Will Tell
by Trance Sephiroth
Summary: Made minor grammatical changes in prep for chapters 2b and 3
1. Saving a lost soul

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of the characters therein

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of the characters therein. Final Fantasy is owned by Squaresoft, so please don't sue me. The only characters I own in this fic are various people and villains I think up.

This fic doesn't have and will never have any Lemon or Yaoi content whatsoever, and no amount of asking will get me to put any in there. Flames will be accepted, but be mild, it's all part of constructive criticism, the more to tell me how and where the story sucks, the better the following chapter will be.

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Only Time Will Tell

Prologue

The Redemption of a Tortured Soul

Lifestream, one of the most beautiful naturally-occurring phenomena on the planet. The place where people's souls go when they die. It is either a place of happiness and joy, or a place of sadness and desolation. It all depends on the amount of good or evil in a person's soul. People with good souls go to a place where they are surrounded by their friends and loved ones. People with evil souls, however, go to a place all of their own. Their soul resides in a wasteland, they come in contact with no other soul, good or evil, for as long as the cleansing process takes, which could be months to years. Think of it as solitary confinement until your soul is judged and pronounced cleansed. The cleansing process is sheer torture, the soul is racked with images of its past, whatever evil deed was done comes back to haunt it, images of the people it hurt or killed comes to it, mocking it and torturing its mind, many a soul has gone insane during the cleansing process, never to be the same again. After the judgment is made, the soul may be moved to the light part of the Lifestream, or banished forever to the darkest recesses of the Lifestream.

One soul, however, suffered a slightly different process. The process was the same up until one crucial point, the soul would never be judged, it could never redeem itself, it had done the ultimate evil, it tried to destroy the planet. This was the soul of Sephiroth, the misunderstood 'madman' with a horrible past, and now, a horrendous future. Sephiroth had long since learned the truth to the mystery surrounding his birth, the planet showed him during one of its 'torture sessions' as Sephiroth calls it. It had been bad enough to find out that Jenova, who he had considered his 'mother' had played him for a fool, that he was as much of a puppet as that idiot Cloud was, but then the planet showed him that his mother was not Jenova but a woman called Lucrecia, and that his father was none other than the one man he hated more than anything else in the world, Hojo. That news nearly drove Sephiroth to the brink of total insanity. It took nearly a year for Sephiroth accept that his father was Hojo, but Sephiroth still hated him. These images bombarded Sephiroth every day for years, he didn't know exactly how long it was since he had lost track of time due to his severe mental anguish. This treatment would go on for eternity; there was no redemption in sight for the poor one winged angel.

Only one other soul bothered or even cared about Sephiroth. This was the soul of the Cetra girl who gave her life to save the planet, Aeris. She felt enormous pity for Sephiroth, he had been burning in his own personal hell for 35 years and now she felt that this was the limit. She knew the planet would have him there forever, but she felt that Sephiroth, as evil as he was, deserved another chance. She requested a meeting of the council of light. These were the Cetra who judged if souls were ready to be transferred from the darkness to the light. 

The council met the next day, after all Aeris was an important woman; she was well on her way to entering the council of light when their term was up. Their term was 40 years long and would be finished in 5 years, this was their 35th year on the council and the head of the council was her mother, Ilfana.

Aeris stood outside the huge, wooden, double doors. She wrung her hands, she was anxious and nervous, this would be the hardest case she had ever had to deal with, to give Sephiroth a second chance at life, to make up for what he did wrong. The doors opened and she entered.

She was in a pitch-black room; suddenly a light came on overhead, bathing her in its warm glow. The council members were beyond the reaches of the light and sat in the shadows, this gave them a mysterious and imposing aura and this unnerved Aries.

"Why have you requested a meeting of the council of light?" the head speaker asked.

"I have an issue to put in front of the council." Said Aeris.

"Oh?" said the head speaker, "Well what is it?"

Aeris took a deep breath, and rallying all her confidence and strength said "I want Sephiroth to have a second chance at life."

The head speaker gasped and murmurs spread through the council like wildfire. "You can't be serious!" said the head speaker, "Are you going crazy, what makes you think that the council would unleash a monster such as Sephiroth back on the world!"

"Because it wasn't his fault" said Aeris, "You know as well as I do that he was under the influence of Jenova, he wasn't in his right mind, Jenova manipulated and warped his mind into seeking to become a god for her benefit. She would wait until meteor hit and kill Sephiroth and absorb the Lifestream herself. She never counted on Sephiroth or Avalanche becoming as strong as they did. When she realized that when she killed Avalanche, if she turned on Sephiroth, he would be too powerful for her to handle and when she realized that Avalanche was going to kill her, she changed her plans; she gave the rest of her energy to Sephiroth, forcing him into his Safer Form after his Bizzaro form lost, and when he supposedly won, he would absorb Lifestream and become a god. He would naturally try to resurrect her and she would absorb him and become a god anyway. All this went to waste when Sephiroth was defeated, and he has been in the Cleansing procedure for so long, he should be cleansed 5 times over; he has been in torture in the place of someone else, Jenova. Why should he have to pay the price when Jenova had this all planned out and just used him as a vessel to do her dirty work. He is innocent." Aeris took a well-deserved breath and waited for the reply.

"Wow!" said the head speaker, "what a mouthful! You can really make a speech!"

"Thank you." Said Aeris.

"Anyway" said the head speaker, "Back to the matter at hand."

"Yes, we know all about Jenova and how she manipulated Sephiroth, but why couldn't he be strong, like Cloud?"

Aeris smiled, she had been waiting for this, the head speaker had made a grave mistake.

"You cannot compare Sephiroth's ordeal to Cloud's." said Aeris, Baiting the trap.

The head speaker took the bait.

"Oh yes we can, Jenova controlled Sephiroth and Sephiroth controlled Cloud, yet Cloud could resist, why?"

Aeris cracked a smile, the head speaker was treading on thin ice and now it broke.

"Yes, Cloud had been under Sephiroth's control and resisted, but not before he beat me up, he nearly killed me in the Temple of the Ancients and he gave Sephiroth the Black Materia, he later went insane and Tifa had to help him regain his sanity. If that is what you call resisting, Cloud did a poor job of it. You also have to remember that Jenova took control of Sephiroth's mind in a moment of weakness when he thought that all of humanity was against him. He hated Hojo and Jenova took that hate and changed it into hate for the world. Cloud also had a better and more solid childhood than Sephiroth. That was a major part of his being able to resist Sephiroth. Jenova weaved a pack of lies that fit in so smoothly with his childhood and explained so many things that he did not understand, that he believed her word for word. Jenova also had greater experience than Sephiroth with manipulating and controlling people's minds and even though Jenova might have boosted his power, Sephiroth did not have the mental capacity to properly control Cloud and he was able to resist him. If Jenova had controlled Cloud's mind directly, he would have more than likely ended up like Sephiroth, and before you ask why she didn't do this, it is because it took a lot of strength to control Sephiroth, and if she tried to manipulate Cloud, Sephiroth might have broken free from her and turned against her and she might not have been able to get him back due to his mental strength, it was pure luck she got him in the first place. Sephiroth was more valuable to her than Cloud and she took the best route of action that she saw. Which was to control Cloud indirectly."

Aeris took another well-deserved breath and waited for the head speakers reply.

The entire council absorbed this information and silence reigned for about 2 minutes.

"Have you forgiven him?" said the head speaker.

"What?" said Aeris.

"Have you forgiven him for killing you?!" the head speaker repeated.

"Of course I have!" said Aeris, "I am fighting for him, am I not, and I understand that it wasn't his fault"

"Have the people of the world forgiven him?" said the head speaker.

Aeris didn't miss a beat.

"No, but I have an idea." Aeris said, "I was in contact with the planet about a week ago, and it said it had looked into the future and saw a great evil approaching that none of the people of that time could handle, it could even destroy the planet, I propose we send Sephiroth to help them, he is very strong and it would be a perfect way to redeem himself."

"What!" said the head speaker, "are you sure?"

"Yes" said Aeris, "contact the planet now if you don't believe me."

A few minutes passed as everyone on the council did just that. When they were finished, the air became tense

"What is the purpose of sending Sephiroth there? I know he is strong, but so is Cloud, we could wait until he enters the Lifestream and ask him." Said the head speaker.

"What if Cloud declines?" said Aeris, "There is a possibility of that happening, what would you do then?"

"Ahhhh........." said the head speaker, "Maybe we could....like...."

"Aha! You don't know what you would do, would you?" said Aeris, "This opportunity is perfect for Sephiroth because, according to the planet, a great cataclysm occurs, and most of the planets history was lost or forgotten during the rebuilding process so no one knows about him 900 years in the future. Saving the future is a perfect way to redeem himself and have a second chance at life."

"What if Sephiroth refuses to go, or if he goes, how would you know that he won't snap again?" Said the head speaker.

"That's easy." Said Aeris, "He would do anything to leave the tortured existence he leads and, I will go with him, and if he snaps, I will send him back to the hell he would have created for himself."

"Are you sure about this Aeris?" said the head speaker.

"Yes, I have a feeling that Sephiroth deserves this second chance." Said Aeris, and if it means that I will put myself in personal danger, so be it, it was my choice."

"So be it," said the head speaker, "I will grant you your request."

There was a flash of green light and Sephiroth appeared in front of the council. His clothes were tattered and he had various cuts on his body. Aeris's eyes widened in shock, she had never seen Sephiroth look so pathetic in her entire life. There was another flash of light and Sephiroth's clothes were restored, the same black suit he always wore, and all of his cuts were healed. 

"Where am I" whispered Sephiroth, "What am I doing here, who are you people?"

"It doesn't matter where you are, what you are doing here or who we are." Said the head speaker, "We have a proposition for you."

Sephiroth raised one eyebrow and smirked at them.

"Well, what is it?" asked Sephiroth

"Someone has asked that you try to redeem yourself by doing a certain task for the planet." Said the head speaker, "The person wants you to go to the future and save it from a new evil that will arrive there."

Sephiroth was shocked, who would care about him enough to get him to try and redeem himself.

Aeris was pissed, she wanted the council to reveal her to Sephiroth, but she realized that the council must have a reason for this.

The head speaker was amused. She had never seen Sephiroth look shocked in her entire life.

"Do you accept?' asked the head speaker.

"Before I consider this offer," said Sephiroth, "I want to know who arranged all of this.

A light came on in the corner above Aeris; she turned and looked into the glowing eyes of The Great Sephiroth.

"The Cetra girl?!!" Sephiroth thought, "What kind of joke is this!!"

"This is no joke Sephiroth" said Aeris, "I have forgiven you for killing me at the alter, I don't hold grudges, besides Jenova made you do it."

Sephiroth looked at her and what he saw scared him, she was too beautiful, she looked like an angel with her silky brown hair and her green eyes. She was also very shapely.

"I...uh...am...(cough, cough)...ahhh" Sephiroth stumbled over his words. "Damn," thought Sephiroth "How can she have this effect on me!! What is this tightness in my chest?"

"SEPHIROTH!!" said the head speaker shouted, "We do not have all day, make your decision now!!"

"Alright," said Sephiroth "I accept, anything to get me out of that hellhole"

"Great!" said Aeris, "I told you he would accept"

She looked at the council with an expression of victory evident on her face.

The head speaker sighed and said, "Well, I suppose we should let you go"

Simultaneously a portal appeared in front of Sephiroth and Aeris.

"Hold on," said Sephiroth, "you never said that she was coming!"

"Oh be quiet," said Aeris, "I am coming whether you like it or not" 

Sephiroth grumbled and cursed under his breath.

"Whatever," said Sephiroth, "Just make sure you don't get in my way!"

Sephiroth prepared to jump through the portal.

"WAIT!!!" screamed Aeris.

Sephiroth, startled, stumbled and fell flat on his face.

"What the %#@$ was that for!!" shouted Sephiroth.

"Well," said Aeris, "First we must be in contact with one another when we jump or we may end up in different places and number two...."

Something clattered to the ground behind Sephiroth

Sephiroth turned around and his eyes looked like they could fall out of his head, there on the ground was his sword, the Masamune.

Sephiroth bent down and picked up the finest blade ever created in the history of the planet. He felt as if he was reunited with the other half of his soul. Many days while he was locked away in Hojo's lab he used to speak to the Masamune as if it was his best friend, his only company in the darkness of Hojo's lab. After that they had become inseparable. When he lost the Masamune, he felt as though someone had ripped his soul in half, but now they were reunited and would never be apart again.

Aeris watched the emotions play across Sephiroth's face until in a gruff voice he said, "Its time to go, if you are coming Aeris, come now." 

Aeris ran across to where Sephiroth was standing, he grabbed her hand and jumped into the portal. As he grabbed her hand, he marveled at how soft and silky her skin was and at the same time she marveled at how strong and possessive his hold on her was. They looked at each other and blushed. That was the last conscious thought Sephiroth or Aeris had as the portal swallowed them up.

They fell out of the portal and Sephiroth woke up almost instantly. He saw that Aeris was still unconscious. He looked at his surroundings. He was in an elegantly decorated room with music and people who were evidently dancing but now had stopped and looked at them with surprise.

A group of men gathered in front of Sephiroth and pulled out their swords. They were dressed in bulky armor and had normal sized swords. Two people stood out though, they stood in front of these men with determination on their faces. A man and a woman. They were obviously the superior officers. 

"Who are you?" the man asked

Sephiroth did not answer

"Well then, you must be trying to assassinate the queen" the man said, "Apprehend him" he ordered his men. They walked warily towards Sephiroth, that is, until he drew the Masamune.

Everyone in the room gasped, no one had ever seen such a long sword. The men stopped advancing. 

"All of you attack at the same time, he can't take any of us, he is just trying to scare us. That sword must be a fake; no one could lift, let alone use such a long sword effectively.

Sephiroth cracked a smile as they all rushed at him, this would be fun.

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Authors Note: There you have it folks, the prologue to my multi-chapter fanfic. Hope you liked it. Remember, flames will be accepted, -_-(), but be mild, this is my first fic.

The next chapter should be up sometime in the near future.

Check back soon. ^_^ 


	2. The Pluto Knights Attack, Sephiroth Vs B...

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of the characters therein

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of the characters therein. Final Fantasy is owned by Squaresoft, so please don't sue me. The only characters I own in this fic are various people and villains I think up.

This fic doesn't have and will never have any Lemon or Yaoi content whatsoever, and no amount of asking will get me to put any in there. Flames will be accepted, but be mild, it's all part of constructive criticism, the more to tell me how and where the story sucks, the better the following chapter will be.

*****************************************

Only Time Will Tell

Chapter 1

The Pluto Knights Attack, Sephiroth Vs Beatrix

"This is going to be fun!" thought Sephiroth as a squad of Pluto knights rushed at him.

The Masamune glinted in the light as Sephiroth got into his fighting stance, one that he had not used in 35 years. It felt a little unfamiliar for a second, but his body got used to it. He was almost quivering in anticipation, he missed the rush of adrenaline that fighting brought. The first knights to reach Sephiroth were obviously not very experienced fighters, he could tell, their fighting stance and their coordination was sloppy. The two superior officers stayed back and observed the fight.

"Smart" thought Sephiroth, "they want to observe my fighting technique in case I beat their men and have to fight them."

The first knight swung his sword, only to hear a clang and then see his sword fall in half. He retreated and turned around to his superior officer.

"General Steiner sir! I thought you said his sword wasn't real!" shouted the guard.

Steiner was himself shocked, he never thought anyone could wield such a long sword and use it effectively, so he thought it must be a fake sword, solely for the purpose of intimidation. He was painfully wrong, and such a careless underestimation could have cost that knight his life. Steiner turned back to the battle scene. Beatrix's eyes were glued to the ensuing battle. Their men were losing, badly.

Sephiroth didn't want to kill anyone, he was just playing around, and he hadn't been in a battle or had a friendly spar in 35 years. This was the perfect chance to reacclimatize himself with his fighting technique. Sephiroth found the men tiring way before he even broke a sweat. 

One knight rushed at him and swung his sword in a deadly arc towards Sephiroth's head. All he hit was air, he felt a searing pain in his chest and looked down to see Sephiroth's fist buried deep in his solar plexus. The man's eyes glazed over and he fell to the ground unconscious. Sephiroth turned just in time to see a sword on its way to cut his head in half and he did what most people thought impossible, he caught the sword with his index finger and his thumb and pulled the sword out of the man's hand while simultaneously kneeing the man in his stomach. This man also fell unconscious. Two knights rushed at Sephiroth from opposite sides and tried to sandwich him between them. Sephiroth threw the sword, that he had just removed from the previous knight, at the man on his right, which caused the man to dodge it and this threw the man off balance, and with inhuman speed, Sephiroth rushed at the man and delivered a crushing blow to the man's temple. The man immediately lost consciousness. Sephiroth turned to see that once again, a man had tried to sneak up on him. The man stabbed for Sephiroth's heart. Sephiroth blocked the strike with the flat of his blade and slashed at the man's head. There was a resounding 'THWACK' as Sephiroth slapped the man across the face with his sword. The man slowly slumped to the floor. Sephiroth got out of his fighting stance and stared at the two superior officers. The male one was called 'Steiner', recalling what the guard had said, but he did not know the female officers name. The male officer 'Steiner' opened his mouth but one look from the female officer told him to be quiet. The female warrior then addressed Sephiroth.

"Stranger" said Beatrix, "As one warrior to another, what is your name?"

Sephiroth stared at Beatrix wondering if he should tell her his name. Sephiroth then said, "Only if you tell me yours afterwards."

Beatrix eyes widened in surprise. "He doesn't know who I am?" she thought, "Hah, wait until he hears my name, then he will know what he is up against!"

"Okay" said Beatrix, "I agree to your proposal."

"My name is Sephiroth," said Sephiroth, "Now, what's yours?"

"My name is Beatrix." said Beatrix. She waited for that name to sink in.

"Heh," thought Beatrix, "He should be quaking in his boots now."

What happened next completely startled Beatrix.

"Well Beatrix," said Sephiroth, "do you want to fight me or do you want to talk?" 

"Don't you know who I am!" shouted Beatrix.

"No I don't" said Sephiroth.

"What!?" said Beatrix, "You mean you have never heard of the famous general Beatrix, the one who took down 100 men single-handedly!?"

"Nope." Said Sephiroth.

"Ugh, what planet are you from!" said Beatrix

Sephiroth smirked

"This one of course!" said Sephiroth, "One more thing, was your name supposed to intimidate me?"

"Well too bad, it didn't work." said Sephiroth, "you took down 100 men, big deal."

Everyone in the room looked at Sephiroth like he was crazy. People started leaving quickly until there were only 9 people left standing in the room. Two of these people were obviously the king and the queen as they were seated on their throne. Steiner and Beatrix were still there. There were some people that he had not bothered to notice beforehand. There was a rat-lady with a lance, a short blue haired girl with a horn on her head, a red haired guy with huge fists, a fat 'thing' with one hell of a tongue and a short person in a pointy hat. 

"What a weird bunch of people." thought Sephiroth.

Everyone in the room stared at Sephiroth as if they wanted to burn holes in him.

The little girl walked up to him.

"No Eiko!" everyone in the room shouted, "He's dangerous!"

The girl advanced until she was within range of this sword. Everyone in the room stared on helplessly as she walked up almost toe-to-toe with Sephiroth.

"Wow," said Eiko, "You're sure cute!!"

Everyone in the room facefaulted, including Sephiroth.

"WHAT?!" shouted Sephiroth, "DO NOT CALL ME CUTE!!!"

Eiko ran back to her friends and hid behind Amarant's foot. Eiko peeked out and blew a raspberry at Sephiroth.

"You're a big meanie!" said Eiko, "I don't like you!"

Sephiroth rolled his eyes and looked up to the heavens.

"Well, you said you wanted to fight me right?" said Beatrix, "Well, do you have the balls to fight me or were you just shooting off steam?"

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed and he gripped the Masamune tightly.

"Well, if you think that you can beat me, let's fight!" said Sephiroth, "but don't underestimate me, or you'll be sorry."

Beatrix covered her mouth to conceal a laugh that still managed to come out.

"Maybe I'm overestimating you!" said Beatrix, "Just because you defeated 5 Pluto knights doesn't mean that you can beat me."

Sephiroth gave Beatrix one of the coldest glares that she has ever been on the receiving end of in her life. It made a shiver go down Beatrix's spine. It was the kind of glare that was devoid of any emotion and gave you no clue of person's emotional state. This was usually a big plus on the battlefield. Beatrix had seen someone with that look before. Then it hit her; that was the look Kuja used to give Queen Brahne.

Beatrix needed to know if this man is connected in some way to Kuja. After all, this man, this Sephiroth character was the only person other than Kuja that had silver hair.

"Do you know a man named Kuja?" Beatrix asked.

This question seemed to be on everyone's mind since they started had all started to pay close attention to Sephiroth when Beatrix asked this question.

"No" said Sephiroth, "Can't say I know the guy."

Beatrix relaxed visibly but her friends didn't.

"Do you really think he would tell us if he knew Kuja or not!?" said Amarant, "Besides, what about that girl behind him, what part does she play in all this?

Sephiroth's eyes widened as everyone looked at the still unconscious Aeris.

"Shit!' thought Sephiroth, "I forgot about the Cetra girl!!"

"CRAP!!!" said Sephiroth

Everyone in the room looked at Sephiroth in surprise at his outburst. He didn't notice this since he was lost in thought.

"Oh crud, I wonder if she will send me back if she found out that the instant I arrived I started a fight!" thought Sephiroth, "I could say it was in self defense, after all, they attacked me first."

"I need to get out of here!" thought Sephiroth, "I need to leave before Aeris wakes up."

"What do you mean by that outburst?" said Beatrix"Is something wrong."

She smiled in a sinister way at Sephiroth. Sephiroth could tell by Beatrix's body language what she meant to do, she wanted to capture Aeris and possibly use her as leverage against Sephiroth, and for some reason leaving Aeris in their care bothered him. Before anyone could blink, Sephiroth whirled around and picked up Aeris, to Beatrix's dismay. Sephiroth then made a dash for the door, only to be stopped by Beatrix holding her sword and she was in a fighting stance.

"Do you think we would allow you to escape?" said Beatrix, "You trespassed on castle grounds and threaten then attack our guards and you want to get off scott free?"

Sephiroth was at a disadvantage; he couldn't fight Beatrix and defend Aeris at the same time.

Sephiroth stared into Beatrix's eyes and realized what he must do. He had to battle her fair and square and win to be able to leave. He put down Aeris and drew the Masamune. They faced off.

Beatrix rushed at Sephiroth and swung only to find the Masamune blocking her strike. She did a back flip and landed several feet away from Sephiroth. She held her sword up and jumped towards Sephiroth. Sephiroth blocked but was sent hurtling against the wall when energy from Beatrix's stockbreak hit him. Sephiroth got up and eyed Beatrix warily. She was a formidable opponent. Sephiroth decided to stay on the defensive to observe Beatrix's fighting style. Beatrix once again rushed at Sephiroth and tried for an overhead slash. Sephiroth blocked as expected but then Beatrix used thunderslash and a bolt of lightening hit Sephiroth's sword but nothing happened.

"What!!" said Beatrix, "you are supposed to be electrocuted!!"

Sephiroth couldn't help but snicker.

"Insulated handle" said Sephiroth, "stops people from trying to cast bolt and fire on your sword"

"Bolt??" thought Beatrix, "What the hell is that, shouldn't it be thunder?"

Beatrix was broken from her train of thought when she narrowly missed having a nasty gash in her arm. 

The fight was going on for 15 minutes with no one gaining any headway when Sephiroth said "Its time I stopped playing and fight for real, this is getting boring and I really want to leave."

Beatrix was furious. Not only had Sephiroth lasted longer against her than any other man on the planet with the exception of Steiner but also he announced that he was playing around with her. This had gotten far enough.

"You've been playing with me have you?" said Beatrix, "well then I was also playing, EAT THIS!!"

"CLIMHAZZARD" shouted Beatrix.

Sephiroth was shocked.

"That was Cloud's move!" said Sephiroth.

Seconds later, Climhazzard hit Sephiroth, hard. Sephiroth was thrown through the air and then heard the words "SHOCK" and blue energy slam into him in mid-air sending him careening into a wall. 

Beatrix felt great, that was the first time that she had actually executed that combination successfully. Sephiroth was down and wasn't moving. Beatrix put up her sword and stood in a victory pose. This victory was short-lived, however, as there was a rustle behind her and then she turned and saw Sephiroth standing. He had a cut across his chest and his clothes were ripped in some places but the most bizarre thing was that his cut was not bleeding, the flesh was torn but there was no blood coming out of it. Sephiroth looked at Beatrix and smiled. 

At about this time, Steiner was beginning to get nervous. This man seemed to be as strong as Beatrix but he seemed to be holding back. They needed a backup plan. Steiner made his way over to Vivi and began to whisper into his ear. 

Sephiroth's smile then turned into a frown and he decided to end this once and for all. It had been fun but now he had gotten his fill of fun and wanted to get away from these weird people. Sephiroth rushed at Beatrix, this time he was serious. She slashed at him and he ducked and tripped her. She rolled away and got up. This was the first offensive move he had made against her during the entire duel. Beatrix rushed at Sephiroth and slashed at him. Sephiroth slapped away her sword with his hand. He used the momentum and weight of her sword against her. She was off balance because he deflected her sword with his hand and he put the Masamune against her neck.

"Do you yield?" asked Sephiroth.

Beatrix felt the cool sharp sword against her neck and knew that she had lost.

"I y..yield" said Beatrix.

"Good" said Sephiroth, "I guess I can leave now, huh?"

"Yes you can." Said Beatrix.

"I don't understand how he beat me." Beatrix thought, "I made no mistakes, could it be that it is because he is better than me?"

"I will leave now." Said Sephiroth, "you are a great warrior, I commend you."

"You wont leave here unscathed you scoundrel, we don't take prisoners." Shouted Steiner.

"Now Vivi, do it now" shouted Steiner.

"but-" said Vivi.

"NOW VIVI." Shouted Steiner.

"Okay" said Vivi.

"Hmnnnnn….." said Sephiroth 

"No Vivi, don't!!" shouted Beatrix.

It was too late, they could all see the balls of fire accompanying the flare spell start to form around Aeris.

"NO!" Sephiroth shouted.

Sephiroth ran with all his might, the only thought on his mind was to save Aeris. The others watched in awe as Sephiroth moved at superhuman speed and pushed Aeris out of the path of the flare spell before it detonated. Sephiroth was caught full force and his burnt and smoking form was thrown through the air and it landed a few feet away from Beatrix.

"This man was no assassin," thought Beatrix, "He had a strong sense of morals and he had honor. All through the battle I sought to kill him and he sought to defeat me in the safest way possible. He was definitely no hired assassin; they had no morals or honor.

He looked dead.

"What have you done Steiner," Shouted Beatrix, "have you no sense of honor?!"

Steiner was speechless, he had expected Beatrix to thank him for saving her or something, he had not expected this.

There was a scraping sound and everyone turned and looked on in amazement as Sephiroth got up.

"He's still alive!?" said Steiner.

"Yes I am you bastard!" said Sephiroth.

He was a mess. He had first degree and second degree burns all over his body and his hair was still smoldering

Beatrix actually felt sorry for him.

Sephiroth looked very angry and then shouted out "FULLCURE"

Everyone was surprised, they had only heard of cure, cura and curaga. A cylinder of green light enveloped Sephiroth. Everyone felt the backwash from the spell. Beatrix was so close to it that it actually healed her. When it was over, there stood Sephiroth and he looked really pissed.

"Well since you want to play fire," said Sephiroth, "FIRE 3"

The spell was directed for Steiner and nothing would stop him from getting burnt to a crisp.

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Authors Note: Sorry for the delay folks but my parents are evil people and when parents know how to use a computer, all hell breaks loose _.Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and remember to RxR. The next chapter is a SHORT continuation of this chapter and will be posted soon. Will Steiner be cooked to a crisp or by some miracle will he be saved, find out in the continuation, DIVINE INTERVENTION. (The title itself is one hell of a clue) ^_^;;

Then make sure to read the upcoming chapter 3, AND HIS NAME WAS KUJA.

See you next chapter. ^_^ 


	3. Divine Intervention

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of the characters therein. Final Fantasy is owned by Squaresoft, so please don't sue me. The only characters I own in this fic are various people and villains I think up.

This fic doesn't have and will never have any Lemon or Yaoi content whatsoever, and no amount of asking will get me to put any in there. Flames will be accepted, but be mild, it's all part of constructive criticism, the more to tell me how and where the story sucks, the better the following chapter will be.

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"So you want play with fire, well FIRE 3!!" shouted Sephiroth as his attack rushed at Steiner. Steiner only had enough time to blink before he was engulfed by a raging inferno that seemed a bit too strong, even for a firaga, it seemed more like a flare spell.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" screamed Steiner as the fire began to melt his armour and burn his skin. As suddenly as it had begun, it was over with, Steiner on the ground unconscious.

"What the hell was that!" thought Beatrix, "He took Steiner out with that weird fire spell in just one casting!"

Everyone in the room was wondering the same thing, 'What the hell had just happened!'

"I know Steiner had his guard down and he's a bit out of practice, but I've seen him take a full flare spell from Vivi when he was training" thought Beatrix.

She looked at Sephiroth who was still bristling with rage and felt scared, "He could be as strong as Kuja or even…stronger." Thought Beatrix

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Sephiroth felt better after nearly burning Steiner to a crisp and looked from Steiner's prone body to a bunch of half shocked half angry faces staring at him.

"Uh oh." Thought Sephiroth as he realized that everyone in the room was reaching for their weapons and their face were become less shocked and more pissed by the minute.

Sephiroth rested his hand on the hilt of the Masamune and everyone in the room stepped back and drew their weapons, only Beatrix didn't move since she was staring at Steiner. She turned and looked at Sephiroth and the look on her face was of someone who had just realized that he had almost fallen off of a cliff.

"Who are you?" Beatrix said, she almost sounded scared.

"I told you already" Sephiroth said, smirking, "I'm Sephiroth"

"And your dead!" screamed Amarant, "I don't care if he claims not to be Kuja, he's still dangerous!"

Amarant rushed at Sephiroth who just stood there and made a mighty swing…and hit air. Amarant turned just in time to see Sephiroth's fist up close and personal. It stopped centimetres in front of his face and the air that it had displaced blew his hair slightly.

"What was that!" thought Amarant, "How could he have dodged me at such close range!"

He heard Sephiroth chuckle and say, "A bit slow aren't we, maybe you need to train harder."

If there was one thing that Amarant had prided himself with, it was the fact that he was one of the best fighters in the world especially in hand-to-hand combat. As you can guess, he was really pissed off at that statement.

"WHAT!!!" Amarant shouted, "Why you silver haired son of a bitch, you're going to die!!" 

Everyone was surprised at Amarant's behaviour, he never said this much at one time, let alone shouted, this guy must really get under his skin. Then again, they never really insulted his fighting skills.

Amarant turned around in a rage and rushed at Sephiroth. Sephiroth dodged left to avoid a punch and had to backflip over Amarant's foot. Sephiroth landed in his fighting stance and waited for Amarant to make a move. Amarant immediately attacked Sephiroth and delivered a vicious uppercut, which Sephiroth blocked, and Sephiroth retaliated with a punch that sent Amarant flying across the room till he came to a stop at his friends' feet.

He got up and wiped some blood off his face and prepared to attack again. 

"STOP!" came a cry.

Everyone turned around and Sephiroth gasped. Aeris was awake and she actually pulled off having a pissed off look on her gentle, serene face.

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Aeris was in fact pissed off very much, she had just awoken and Sephiroth was already putting their mission in jeopardy.

"What's wrong with you Sephiroth!!" shouted Aeris, "We just arrived and already you get into a fight!!"

Sephiroth remembered that had the Cetra had said that Aeris could have him returned to his eternal torture if she saw fit and therefore he remained decidedly silent. Aeris turned to everyone in the room and began to apologise for Sephiroth's actions. 

"How can you hope to apologise for this!!" shouted Amarant, "He wiped out a bunch of soldiers and one of our best friends!" 

Amarant began to advance on Aeris but decided against it as Sephiroth gave him a dangerous look and tightened his grip on the Masamune.

Everyone was agreeing with Amarant and then Freya said, "Let's put them in the castle dungeon until we decide what to do with them."

Everyone agreed and started to advance on Sephiroth. He drew the Masamune and prepared to fight. Vivi was preparing a blizzaga spell while Beatrix cast a cure spell on Steiner. They were all prepared to attack Sephiroth when a green aura surrounded him.

Sephiroth, unknown to them, was preparing to cast a weak Ultima spell to disable them. Everyone prepared to attack when a voice rang out.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!!"

Everyone turned to the guy in the throne and Sephiroth heard Amarant mutter, "Who died and made him king."

"For your information Amarant, I'm no king yet, but I have to as, ass, assume the duties of king" said the guy.

"Some king" muttered Amarant, "Can't even pronounce assume properly"  

Sephiroth watched the exchange occur and began to wonder if these guys were morons.

"Aaaa shaddap Amarant" the guy said, he turned to Aeris, "Now may I ask your name lady?"

"Oh, my name is Aeris!" said Aeris, "What's yours?"

"My name?" the guy said, "My name is Zidane."

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Authors Note: Sorry for the delay folks but I had family problems, death, Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and remember to RxR. 

Make sure to read the upcoming chapter 3, AND HIS NAME WAS KUJA.

See you next chapter. ^_^ 

:


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